Rest In Peace, Mr. Alex Sanderson Crank

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I was saddened to hear of the loss of Mr. Alex Sanderson Crank recently. Let me tell you about a great man...

Mr. Crank was a Korean War vet and former Firefighter here in Texas. He was your typical honest, big-hearted Texan who was nice enough to let me pick through his acres of vintage Fords, usually not even charging me for the treasured part I was there to recover. He shared his home with me and treated me like I was part of the family. My daughter, Katie, would look forward to the weekends when we could go over to Mr. Crank's place and she could play with his pigs and cows and just run amok all over the sprawling Texas farmland.

I worked with Mr. Crank in the last few weeks before I had to leave for Korea and helped him sell many of his parts by listing them on E-Bay. I promised to come see him as soon as I got back from Korea but I was never able to reach him. He didn't like to answer the phone anyway so I didn't think anything of it. Well, just the other day, I was talking to a good friend of mine who suggested I look for his obituary. As much as I hated to do it, I looked and found he'd died just a month before I came home. The saddest part was that he'd been shot by his own son.

All I can tell you is I really wish more people could have known such a great man. He truly was one of the good ones and will sorely be missed.